SCADA Application | What is SCADA used For

Introduction:
SCADA is widely used in different areas from chemical, gas, water, communications and power systems.

The list of applications of SCADA can be listed as follows.
1. Electric power generation, transmission and distribution: Electric utilities use SCADA
systems to detect current flow and line voltage, to monitor the operation of circuit breakers, and to take sections of the power grid online or offline.
2. Water, Waste Water Utilities and Sewage: State and municipal water utilities use SCADA to monitor and regulate water flow, reservoir levels, pipe pressure and other factors.
3. Buildings, facilities and environments: Facility managers use SCADA to control HVAC,
refrigeration units, lighting and entry systems.
4. Oil and Gas Trans & Distributions:
5. Wind Power Generation
6. Communication Networks:
7. Industrial Plans and Process Control:
8. Manufacturing: SCADA systems manage parts inventories for just-in-time manufacturing, regulate industrial automation and robots, and monitor process and quality control.
9. Mass transit and Railway Traction: Transit authorities use SCADA to regulate electricity to subways, trams and trolley buses; to automate traffic signals for rail systems; to track and locate trains and buses; and to control railroad crossing gates.
10. Traffic signals: SCADA regulates traffic lights, controls traffic flow and detects out-of-order signals.

SCADA in Power Systems:

SCADA is widely used in power systems. The applications for SCADA keep increasing day after day.

Some of the applications are

Comprehensive operational planning and control
Fuel resource scheduling
Optimum power flow
Network security
Economic dispatch
Generation dispatch control

Expected Benefits of SCADA for Power Systems

Improved quality of service
Improved reliability
Reduced operating costs
Maintenance /Expansion of customer base
Ability to defer capacity addition projects
High value service providers
Improved information for engineering decision
value added services
Flexible billing option
Improved customer information access
Reduced system implementation costs

Typical features of a substation SCADA system are as under

Substation parameter monitoring
Controlling electrical network components remotely
Safety tagging
High resolution time stamping
Sequence of event reporting for post event analysis
Additional features of substation control system
Demand side management
Volt/VAR control
Preventive maintenance
Fault detection isolation and restoration

SCADA for Power Utility Network:
The aim of power network utilities(PNU) software is to provide the electrical utility with tools which will enhance the operation of the system in a very cost effective way.in the present scenario of low budgets for power utilities to produce and distribute quality power at the minimum cost.This goal can be achieved by proper operation of the electrical network and at the same time having real time data about state of the network.This real time data can then be used for supervisory controlled changes of the network parameters with effective guidance from distribution automation tools.The PNU software
utilizes the real time SCADA data.the real time network topology network component details & user defined strategies to achieve the above mentioned goals.PNU uses a combination of mathematical and logical techniques to provide the user with a host of applications for the purpose of distribution automation.

Features of Power Network Utilities